FDA Approves New Drug to Treat Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
The Food and Drug Administration has approved bosutinib (Bosulif) to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a blood and bone marrow disease that usually affects older adults. Bosutinib is intended for patients with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML who are resistant to or who cannot tolerate other therapies, including imatinib (Gleevec).
Most people with CML have a chromosomal aberration called the Philadelphia chromosome, which causes the bone marrow to make an abnormal tyrosine kinase enzyme called Bcr-Abl. This enzyme promotes the proliferation of abnormal and unhealthy infection-fighting white blood cells called granulocytes. Bosutinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that works by blocking Bcr-Abl signaling.
Bosutinib’s safety and effectiveness were evaluated in a clinical trial involving 546 adults with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase CML. All of the patients had been previously treated with at least one TKI, either imatinib or imatinib followed by dasatinib (Sprycel) and/or nilotinib (Tasigna).
Among patients with chronic phase CML, 34 percent of patients who had been treated previously with imatinib and 27 percent of those who received more than one prior TKI achieved a major cytogenetic response within 24 weeks.
Among patients with accelerated phase CML who had received at least one prior TKI, 30 percent had their blood counts return to the normal range (a complete hematologic response) by week 48, and 55 percent achieved a complete hematologic response, no evidence of leukemia, or return to chronic phase (an overall hematologic response) by week 48. Among patients with blast phase CML who had received at least one prior TKI, 15 percent had a complete hematologic response and 28 percent an overall hematologic response by week 48.
The most common side effects observed in those receiving bosutinib were diarrhea, nausea, a low level of platelets in the blood, vomiting, abdominal pain, rash, anemia, fever, and fatigue.
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